Assignatus utittirjure auctoris :

That which is assigned takes with it for its use the rights of the assignor.

THE assignee of a chattel or other property or right assigned, has all the rights incident to such
chattel, or property, or right, which the assignor had at the time of the assignment: This maxim
applies generally to all property,- real and. personal, and refers to assigns by act of the parties, as
where the assignment is by deed ; and to assigns by operation of law, as in the ease of an
executor.

All rights of the assignor in the thing assigned must pass from him to the assignee by virtue of
the assignment, for " Duo non possunt in sohdo unam rem possidere "—Two persons cannot
possess one thing in its entirety. An assignor may, of course, assign less than he possesses, as
part of his estate, whether of freehold or leasehold, by grant with conditions, or by way of
demise, or sub-demise ; or of goods and chattels, the right of property apart from the property
itseK, as in the case of mortgage or pledge.

But he cannot effectually assign more, or give to his assignee any greater right than he himself
possesses at the time of the assignment, unless it be that he subsequently acquire the right which
he did not then possess ; as, where a lessor mortgages by assignment and then demises, the legal
estate not beiag in him ; on his subse- quently acquiring the legal estate, the interest of the lessee
therein will at once accrue. And in such case it is said, that if the lease be made in such form as
to create between the lessor and lessee an estoppel to deny that the lessor had a reversion, the
assignee of the lessor may thereby establish his title by estoppel. And, whenever an estate by
estoppel becomes a vested interest by the lessor's subsequently acquiring the estate, the lessee
and assignee have the same rights and habilities as if the estate had been at the first an interest in
possession. Where, however, the deed does not operate as an estoppel, as where it appears that the
lessor had only an equitable interest, the benefit and burden of the covenants do not pass to the
assignee. Covenants running with the land may be given as a familiar instance of the application of this ;
as where a lessor or lessee covenants to repair, this and other like covenants pass with the estate
granted, during its continuance, into the hands of assignees, who will have the same rights respecting
them as the lessor or lessee himself had. So the assignee takes the bur- den of all breaches of covenant
by him during his holding, and his liability upon the covenants continues until by assignment he destroys
the privity of estate existing between him and the lessor. A sub-lessee does not, however, take any
liability in respect of the covenants in the original lease, there being no privity of estate between him
and the original lessor. The law favors commercial transactions, and for the sake of commerce it
sometimes permits a man to assign to another a greater right than he himself possesses ; as in sales in
market overt ; in the negotiation of bills of exchange, biUs of lading, &e., in which cases the lona fide
purchaser or assignee for value, without notice of fraud or illegality, acquires a perfect title in the thing
purchased or assigned, notwithstanding any imperfection in the title of the assignor. It must be
observed, also, that the thing assigned takes with it all the liabilities attached to it in the hands of the
assignor at the time of assignment, as in the case of an assignment of a lease, before mentioned, except
in such cases as those just mentioned for the encouragement of commerce.